Mentoring Doctoral Students in Higher Education (An International Perspective)

Many students world over who decide to pursue a doctorate have a very specific career path in mind when they enter a doctoral program. Some of these know they want to work in the world of academia. After the author’s more than forty years in academia, this trend is changing with time in that many doctoral students now end up working in business and industry, for profit, non-profit agencies and government agencies. For prospective or current doctoral students reading this book, please remember that if you land your position in academia, you must then work diligently toward achieving tenure or building a successful career as a teaching professor. If you want to be successful in academia, you should do as much as you can to achieve the skills and abilities needed to be successful while you are enrolled in your doctoral program.

This book is organized in a “generally” chronological order, but when I felt the need, I have drawn from experiences with students throughout my career. The first lesson in the book is drawn directly from the experiences with my first doctoral student and for a very good reason. I think it will become evident when you read the first chapter. One thing that I sincerely hope is evident throughout the book is my unwavering belief in the value of effective mentoring. In my opinion, this is something that has been seriously damaged in our age of mass production and immediate gratification. You cannot become an effective mentor in a few sessions. It takes a lot of time and effort.

One of my dearest friends in the world is a colleague with whom I worked for many years. He has been retired now for several years, but he has continued to be one of my most cherished friends and mentors. A few years ago, my friend’s wife (who is also one of my dear friends) hand-stitched a beautiful picture of a cardinal sitting on a flowering tree limb and gave it to me for a Christmas present. The picture is beautiful, and I treasure it. It has a place of prominence on the wall in my office. However, the note that she gave me with the picture is even more treasured. She starts by saying, “I wanted to thank you for being my husband’s mentor.” As he is a true elder statesman in our program, I always considered him my mentor. The following words in her note helped to affirm the worthiness of the doctoral advising aspect of my efforts over these last 40 plus years: She said that we (I and her husband),“. . . help students to go out in the world as blessed human beings and spread knowledge to the next generation.”